High alert as Cyclone Biparjoy approaches India, Pakistan coasts

A storm off India’s western coast has strengthened to become a powerful cyclone that could hit India’s Gujarat state and southern parts of Pakistan this week, the weather department says.

The cyclone, named Biparjoy, is expected to make landfall on Thursday afternoon between Mandvi in Gujarat and Karachi in Pakistan with a maximum sustained wind speed of 125-135kmph (78-84mph), gusting up to 150kmph (93mph), the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday.

The IMD has advised fishing communities to halt operations and the evacuation of people from the coastal areas of Saurashtra and Kutch regions of Gujarat.

Two of India’s biggest ports – Mundra and Kandla – are in the Gulf of Kutch, while the Jamnagar refinery, the world’s biggest oil refinery complex owned by Reliance Industries, is based in the Saurashtra region. The Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited, in a stock exchange filing on Monday, said operations at its Pipavav Port had been suspended since late Saturday evening due to “prevailing severe weather conditions”.

Seven teams of India’s National Disaster Response Force and 12 teams of State Disaster Response Force have been deployed in the districts likely to be affected by the cyclone, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said in a tweet.

(Aljazeera)